Stavropol Nekrodivizion (Russia) 26/06/2013

Svart Samler: Stavropol Nekrodivizion is a union of several bands and projects coming from the same town. It is some sort of an alliance at every level from friendship till ideological views. We have known each other for many years, we have similar tastes, outlooks on life and goals. We simply decided to create this union, so that we would not have to deal with various local cocksuckers that appeared here and here at the local stage. Later I founded the S.N.D. Prod. label aimed at releasing only Stavropol Nekrodivizion works, which includes not just new records but also old demos that were not widespread back in the time and are now of interest to a bunch of fans.

Svart Samler: The following SND bands are active at the moment: SS-18, Misanthropic Art, Lashblood, Deathmoor, Sin Kruzifix (ex- Christinvertion), Alienation Cold, Not Last Rise. I cannot mark out any of those bands because I sympathize and I am linked to each of them in this or that way. The driving force is hard to identify as well. Sure, there is a certain backbone in SND, or even more, there is a specific person (Sadist) without whom the whole thing would have not been possible. However, that does not mean that the other members are less important or easily replaceable.

Svart Samler: Yes, I am the vocalist and the author of lyrics of SS-18. Our last record is titled ‘Tetraktis’ and it is dedicated to four well-known types of weapons of mass destruction. This album describes with no embellishment what will happen to the humanity sooner or later. Fuck human history, the nuclear fall of civilization is near. Apart from that, I also write lyrics for Misanthropic Art, Lashblood, Alienation Cold, take care of all matters that concern releasing SND records and I run my own minor label SND Prod. that I have mentioned above.

Svart Samler: Yes, with few exceptions it is me who is responsible for the promotion of all SND projects. Any reaction deserves a certain amount of skepticism and suspicion. If you hear an opinion of a friend, you need to know that it will be unwillingly flattering even if your friend does not want it or just wants to avoid sharp edges. In case this is an internet brain box or simply a moron talking, then his opinion will certainly have an unjustified portion of dirt, and you have to be ready for it too. And just in general, in the days of modern technology every dickhead wants to bless the world with his point of view on this or that release. “This album kicks ass!” or “This album is a piece of shit!” – that’s not something you should pay attention to.

Svart Samler: By Russian standards, Stavropol is a small southern town that shares borders with various muslim regions and, therefore, it is filled with skibbies. Frankly hostile Christianity-muslim world and a dumb provincial rejection or anything non-massive is the exact background to our work. Fans are not many but I think most of them are more or less familiar with our music.

Svart Samler: Only SS-18, Lashblood and Not Last Rise have live line-up at the moment. We give shows very seldom and there are certain reasons to it, mostly because we are situated too far from the events, and the second reason being the lack of decent festivals in Russia lately. To be honest, I’d say we are more oriented to studio work rather than playing live. However, there was a huge night festival called Night of Devotion organized by Death Knell Prod just recently, and SS-18 had been invited to it, so we gladly took part in it. In my opinion, this night had quite a success and will take an honorable place in the history of such events.

Svart Samler: Almost every project is planning something and doing groundwork, so I do not want to take a long shot and will only talk about something that is pretty much finished. First of all, SND Prod is going to release a Moriturus album dating from ’95 that has never been widely accessible before. Back in the day Moriturus served as a starting point for the musicians who later built up a well-known project Karna, this is why the release of this album will pay respect to those musicians and those times. Right after that there will be two Misanthropic Art records released – a short conceptual EP that has been waiting to see the light of day for several years, and a brand new album. They are most likely to be released as 2CD digipacks. And finally, two EP’s by Lashblood and SS-18 will be ready by then, and I would like to offer our ally labels to release them.

Svart Samler: Even though the scene seems to be huge, there are very few worthy bands in Russia, and the so-called “scene” is even smaller. Numerous are bands that want to become popular too fast using modern world trends, or those who regard their pathetic one-man-band puke sounds as the epitome of the art of music. Or others seem to hit it off at start but eventually downgrade to subtopia and become those everyday metalheads with plain social joys and needs. Among all new bands I personally would like to mention out Dominus Ira, the project created by the members of Thy Kingdom Ablaze, as well as two bands of Death Knell Prod. owners and their circle - Rotting Heaven и VTTA. It is also impossible not to mention two marvelous Belorussian bands - Pestilentia and Niezgal.

Svart Samler: Yes, various circuits and musical and ideological unions exist in many Russian regions. We are in touch with many bands and people, some of them are even longtime friends of ours, and we get to know some others at different events.

Svart Samler: Well, obviously, we all follow our own satanic path, however, each project has its ideological and thematic peculiarities. For example, SS-18 is focused on nuclear weapons, technogenetics, post-apocalypse and everything that not only concerns annihilation of humanity but also indicates its worthlessness in global and worldwide sense. With Misanthropic Art the subject of technogenetics has a narrower social orientation, it is somehow glorifying anti-evolution. Lashblood is fully merged into existentialism, the depth of human nature which leaves its mark on the music and stimulates experiments.

Svart Samler: Basically, I have already mentioned all the plans above. New albums, new ideas, new eras are coming… Thank you for this interview and thanks to all our comrades that support us! Never stop the madness!